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4 Elul 5768, Sept. 4, 2008
 
 

Shalom to you all...

Thank you for your continuing support of KosherTorah...

Please remember, KosherTorah is here for you... and I need you to be here for KosherTorah. Your support, however great or small, however often or seldom is needed and appreciated. If you enjoy this lesson, then please express your support by making a small online donation... Thanks.

Now that Elul is upon us, it is again time for me to begin my annual fund raising drive... I am not very good in soliciting funds... maybe this is why KosherTorah has remained small all these years... but no matter... I trust that HaShem will speak to each of you individually in your hearts and that you will each support KosherTorah as Heaven knows we need. In future emails this month, I will be outlining for you my many publishing project I hope to get off the ground this coming year.... Thank you all in advance for your continuing interest and support of KosherTorah.

BTW, you can also help KosherTorah by introducing us to your friends and associates. We would love to have more email subscribers. Please share KosherTorah and ask your friends to freely subscribe. Thanks again!

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New Online Free Class Starting on Sunday
RaMBaM's Hilkhot Yesodei Torah
Sunday evenings 9 p.m. PDT (midnight in NY, 7 a.m. in Israel) on virtualyeshiva.com I will begin a new series of lessons in RaMBaM's Laws of the Foundations of Torah (Hilkhot Yesodei Torah).

I will not only be explaining the text but also the underlying mysticism and philosophy underlying it. These lessons are very deep and extremely cool. You will learn things about Torah you never knew before!

For those who claim that RaMBaM did not know Kabbalah, I hold like Abulafia and the Radziner Rebbe who held that he most certainly did.

I will be using commentaries on the text that are not very well known, classical material that correlate Kabbalistic teachings to RaMBaM's approach.

I'll let each student draw their own conclusions just what RaMBaM knew and did not know. In all due respect, his choice of words is most revealing.

Come join us Sunday night live or you can purchase the CDs in our online store the day after the live class.

This class is free and open to the public. It will especially be good for all beginners, Jews and Benei Noah alike.

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The River of Life
by HaRav Ariel Bar Tzadok. Copyright (C) 2008 by Ariel Bar Tzadok. All rights reserved.
Nature does not follow a straight line; neither does the course of human events. Like the course of a river, human events flow this way and that way; grow wide and thin and twist and turn. No one can predict the course of an unexplored river and no one can predict the course of our human unknown future. Yet, one thing is certain, things will never flow straight, there will always be twists and curves along the way.

Great events that shift the course of history happen in a moment; they usually go by unnoticed and unrecognized. We go sleep at night in one world and wake up the following morning in an entirely different one. We did not see the shift; we did not see the change of course. Yet, life like a river flows forward and with each passing turn we are taken into regions unknown.

We have now passed through one such time and others are coming; some in months and others in years. Soon, things that we all know so well will shift and change with a sudden jerk. In the blink of an eye so much of what we hold sacred and dear will disappear. This will not happen immediately, it will happen slowly and subtly and then suddenly BANG, it will culminate.

We cannot avoid the change it is inevitable; it is destiny. Yet, we can prepare for it. We can start today and be ready to face tomorrow. Only those properly strapped in and who wear life vests can safety navigate the running rapids along the river. Running the river of life requires of us equal preparations.

Our individual destinies are decided based upon so many circumstances and events beyond both our control and imagination. There is no way for anyone to take absolute control of their lives and welfare. Such security does not exist. This being said, at the same time, we are not complete slaves to some nebulous uncontrollable destiny that dangles us like puppets on a string. Although we cannot control everything, there certainly is a great deal that we can place under our own control.

The struggle to control that which cannot be controlled takes up a good part of our lives, energy and attention. We often struggle to control that which cannot be controlled and at the same time ignore or disregard that which we can easily be controlled. There seems to be no wisdom in this.

The first of things that we can control is our focus of attention. The second thing we can control is what we choose. In most cases we have ultimate power to choose between options. Not all options may be to our liking, but we can still choose between them. When we think clearly with proper focus, we can make the right choice for the circumstances presently before us. In this way, we flow along the course of the river of life, taking each turn as it comes and navigating it as is best for the greatest desired outcome.

Life is our learning experience. If you go through the day and have not learned anything then that is a day wasted. Mind you, some lessons are subtle and not immediately noticed; yet, they are still learned, whether or not we are aware of having learned them. It requires the focus of our attention to seek out what lesson each day has for us to learn.

Prior to sleep each night, we should lie in bed and review the day. We should look at the circumstances of the day, how we reacted to them; what did we create and how did we respond and interact with that which was not our creation but came from another source. We should review and recognize that which we did that was right and that which we did which was wrong. We should feel these things, not just think about them. This is not an academic exercise for the mind; it is a getting in touch with one's true feelings.

Upon our beds we should feel shame over our failures. Yet, rather than wallow in pity, we should feel the passion of a roaring lion. We should declare in our hearts; "although I have failed once, I will not dishonor myself, will not fail again." We go to sleep with the resolve to wake up the next day and be better than we were the day before. In this way, we learn and in this way we grow. This is how we navigate the ever changing course of the river of life.

Awakening is the key. We must awaken our slumbering hearts. We must become aware of our own inner selves and our own personal destines. We each navigate our own personal rivers. No two people are alike, no two destines are exactly the same. Each of us is an individual. Although we have many partners and supporters throughout many portions of our journey, nonetheless, when all is said and done, the journey is ours alone and that makes our individual paths unique.

We cannot turn to another to ask for directions along our personal river. Their directions might work well on their river, but not necessarily on ours. Granted, good advice and wisdom may enable one to help another; yet that advice and wisdom are only general principles and guidelines; they are not directives and orders to follow. The only way to follow the river is to go with its course; to move along with it and not against it. Each river has its own current and its own course. One cannot flow at the pace of another, nor can one follow a course that is not one's own.

Great passages come before us, and seldom do we recognize their significance at the moment. Only as we look back can we see the true size and significance of that which was; but by then it is already too late to choose another course or exert any influence. If we could only recognize the moment for what it is; how this would help us in making the choice of what proper course to follow. Yet, who amongst us has such insight? Who can rise above and see the tomorrow's outcome of today's decisions? The one who contemplates this course is called wise. Blessed are the wise for they shall see today what comes tomorrow and thus have the opportunity to better shape the future.

Pause before you sleep at night. Open your heart to wisdom. See with the eyes of the spirit. Learn the lesson of the soul. This is Torah. This is Teshuva. This is flowing with the course of your river of life.

Personal Note...
Here at KosherTorah, I have devoted my entire career and essentially my life to get this very message across. The original Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed for one single reason; this being because we failed to listen to the Prophets who warned us in G-d's Name what to do and not to do.

Here we are centuries later and I wonder how much has really changed. We as individuals have such great potentials within us, if only we live up to being what it means to be truly human. G-d never commanded us to be angels. He only commanded us to be human. Torah was not given to angels; it was given to us human beings.

We will never impress Heaven by trying to act like angels. We will however impress Heaven when we act like fully intelligent, compassionate and caring human beings. This is what Torah is all about. Try reading through the words of the Biblical Prophets and you'll see this message for yourselves.

The time of change is upon us. We have to revert to the innocent and sincerity of the desirous and passionate Virgin. This is the time. Will you make the place?

Please remember KosherTorah in your prayers and with your financial support. We have a lot of work to do, I pray, together!

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Shalom, Ariel Bar Tzadok

phone: 818-345-0888

Stop! Take a moment, and say a sincere "thank you" to HaShem for all the the good things you have right now.

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